TL: WOW! Lookit all the pretty reviews… O.O You guys are SO COOL! I present to you with pride… Chapter 3! Dan dan dan! (no, not "duhn duhn duhn", "dan dan dan" ^_~) I hope it lives up to your standards.
Jou: *bursts in randomly* Ooh, I'm in this one!
TL: Yes, yes you are. I even used my powers of the authoress to make you a bit cooler.
Jou: You mean… I'm not cool? *whimper*
TL: Naw, just irresistibly adorable. And sometimes very annoying. My head still hurts from that stinking noogie you had to give me!
Jou: Sorry, reflexes. *TL glares a death glare of DOOM* Eep! *ahem* So, disclaimer is rather obvious. This person here doesn't own Yugioh or any of its characters. The authoress doesn't either.
TL: And I ran out of dedications, so you are free to read on!
~~~@~@~@~~~
The doorbell rang. Ryou moaned. The sound brought his unending headache back to full power, not to mention waking him up. Maybe Bakura would open the door…
It rang again, and Ryou found Bakura's mind. Yami, I can't move. At all. Could you open the door? Please?
No answer. Bakura seemed to be ignoring him.
Onegai?
Nope, sorry. It's not my job to take care of visitors. Bakura seemed too preoccupied to yell at him mentally, but he apparently found the time to take his place in the ring again.
Bakuuuraaaa! Ryou whined at him. Bakura ceased to acknowledge his pleas. "Ungh." Ryou winced as the doorbell rang again, several times in a row. Then the door downstairs opened loudly, banging into the wall, and several pairs of feet hurried up the stairs. Jounouchi was the first one into the room.
"Whoah! Ryou, are you okay, buddy?" He sat down on the floor next to him and grimaced when he saw the long cut down Ryou's arm. Yugi, Anzu, and Honda joined him on the floor and shared their shocked sympathies.
"Ryou, how did you get cut so badly?" Anzu's distressed blue eyes went over the scars and scabs on his arms. "Did…you do this?"
Ryu couldn't find the strength to answer, just formed the word "thirsty" with his lips and closed his eyes.
"I'll get him water!" Jou spoke up. "Honda, you get some bandages, and Anzu, you get him a warm wet towel. Those cuts need cleaning. Yugi, you stay with him and make sure he doesn't need anything else." Everyone rushed off to retrieve their assigned materials, not questioning Jounouchi's sudden leadership and level-headedness. Yugi waited until they were gone, and then asked, "It was Bakura, wasn't it?"
Ryou didn't respond for a few moments. "No," he said softly. "I did it." Yugi took this in slowly.
"…Why? I would have thought you were hurt enough already." Ryou didn't respond at all this time. Now that he was with his friends, in broad daylight, and away from Bakura's threats, it seemed very stupid.
Why had he done it again? So many reasons he had made up… Strength, distraction, discovery… Those answers no longer made sense. He wasn't stronger. He was lying on the floor, hurt, unable to move or even speak for very long. It had only amplified his suffering. And he wasn't all alone. People loved him. Just because Bakura treated him with hate didn't mean everyone had forsaken him. He had people to live for. He had dreams and hopes and goals once, great dreams. Bakura had only hidden them. He had crushed them himself, by thinking they no longer existed.
Kind words began brushing the dust of his hopes back together, into a little pile. He could rebuild himself. It hadn't been that long, only a few days. He could fight his desire for pain with his desire for love and a future. Maybe if he really acted stronger, his beloved yami would begin to respect him, finally.
His eyes snapped open when something rough rubbed against his gash. He winced and groaned in pain, but let Anzu wipe his cut clean. He endured the sting of cold hydrogen peroxide, and the pinching of the bandages. He accepted the drink and coughed when he first tried to swallow, his throat felt so coarse. He got it the second time, and even gratefully accepted the little bit of food being spoon-fed to him, despite the dangers to his pride. His friends. The only people in the world left to him. They would help him pull through.
He rolled over onto his back and sighed. He almost thought he could get up now. Maybe, with a hand from a friend. He took Yugi's, and struggled to his feet. Take that, he shoved at Bakura, feeling greatly inspired. I might just have to write a sappy poem about this.
A long pause, and then, Hmm? Bakura wasn't listening. Just as well, or he might have been mad. Then again, what could he do with Ryou's second family looking on? Not much, Ryou thought triumphantly, not much.
_-*-^-*-_
TL: I've got something to say here… I'm a little nervous about putting this up in the public domain, but Ryou (in this fic) and I share something in common. Yeah, you probably guessed it. In any case, it began after I started this fic, and I'm trying to reflect my experiences so far with therapy and discussions with friends and regular old soul-searching in Ryou's experiences. There are highs and lows for me: sometimes I'm pretty happy, finding some good distraction that puts me at ease, sometimes I'm a bolt of lightning waiting to strike somewhere, sometimes I'm a wave, imploding upon myself over and over… Putting Ryou through my feelings is almost soothing, as well as an opportunity to make this story as true to life as possible. I'll mention some important points when they come around, so you now get an author's note at the end too! What joy! What rapture! Jaa ne till chappy four!